asslk@acad2.alaska.edu (Kingry Shane L) (04/19/91)
OK, I have a nice big long file at home that I wrote for our usergroup newsletter, but I am not at home, so I will give a condenced version... There are three accererators for the GS that are made by ZIP Technologies There are two small cards that actually take the place of the 65816 processor. These are like 8MHz and one has 8K cache and the other a 16K. To the best of my knowledge, these are not upgradable, but I could be wng Then, there is the actuual board that in my opnion, is the best of them all. The board comes standard with an 8MHz processor, and can be ugraded to 10MHz for like $70 or something like that. The RAM cache on this (comes with 16K) can be upgraded to 64K for I think $50 for 32K ($100). In addition, the card comes with a 50 (??) pin port that may be used in the future for other things (fast scsi? fast ram? your guess is as good as mine). The card also has 18 dip switches for items, and two LEDs that will show you the status of the cache ram, etc... This board plugs into a slot, BUT DOES NOT disabble it - just draws power or something like that. You run a ribbon cable from the board to the 65816's socket. By all means, buy this board from ZIP if you are thinking of getting a speed up card for the GS _SK Besides, Applied Engineering's policy (customer service, repair, etc) sucks! and their card only runs at like 6.28MHz or something even though it says 7... THAT was of NO put down to AE Transwarp owners - just a comment of mine. Please don''t take it personally...
toddpw@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel) (04/19/91)
Your article is based on information that's changed -- I visited Zip a month ago and here's what the scoop seems to be: The tiny board versions don't really exist; it's far more cost effective for Zip to sell the same upgradable board with a relatively cheap 7 mhz chip on it for $149 or so. Zip buys 7 and 8 mhz rated chips from WDC, and hand picks the faster ones for upgrades. I am running at 10 mhz with an 8 mhz rated chip and I have not had any problems that caused me to suspect the accelerator. They must have plenty of real 7's they've already paid WDC for. The top bus connector is disappearing in the next board revision, for the following reasons: (a) it is not cost-effective (who will manufacture a product that depends on an add-on?) (b) it adds a lot of noise to the system, and could inhibit high speed operation or all operation in noisy/loaded systems. Everything else you mentioned sounds ok. Thanks for word-of-mouthing the Zip, I heartily recommend it to anyone who is serious about their GS. I seriously think the TWGS is a disgusting piece of overengineering compared to the ZipGS. Todd Whitesel toddpw @ tybalt.caltech.edu
dat33228@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Derek A. Taubert) (04/19/91)
In article <1991Apr19.023153.23601@ims.alaska.edu> asslk@acad2.alaska.edu writes: >Besides, Applied Engineering's policy (customer service, repair, etc) sucks! Agreed. >and their card only runs at like 6.28MHz or something even though it says >7... Not Agreed. The Transwarp returns a speed index that can be read, and it does actually run at 7 (6.999) MHz. It may be an effective speed of 6.28 because of the small cache, but that all really depends on what kind of code you are running. -- + Derek Taubert --> derek@mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu + Author of : GScii+ + + dat33228@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu + and other neat stuff to come + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Access to computers - and anything which might teach you something about + + the way the world works - should be unlimited and total. Always yield to + + the Hands-On Imperative! +
Larry.Lee@f438.n109.z1.Fidonet.Org (Larry Lee) (04/20/91)
Apparently, there is a fourth version of the Zip GS now... rated up and * Origin: Europa BBS (301) 718-4690 HST/DS 14.4k (1:109/438)
gwyn@smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn) (04/21/91)
In article <1991Apr19.023153.23601@ims.alaska.edu> asslk@acad2.alaska.edu writes: >[TWGS] only runs at like 6.28MHz or something even though it says 7... Due to limited availability of faster processors from WDC, most TWGSs were shipped with 6.2MHz processors. Some early customers were given the opportunity to upgrade to 7MHz for free. The most recent ads that I saw claimed only at least a 2x speed improvement, which both models provide.